Unauthoritative Pronouncements

This is a pretty good time of the year to go outside and appreciate what’s happening in nature. Even if you’re in a major metropolitan city, like me, you’ve still got flowers out the wazoo. Knock back a few antihistamines, grab a camera, on go on a little walk.

It could be the camera on your smartphone, but try to grab something you don’t ordinarily take pictures with just so you stretch some different mental muscles.

Shockingly, almost exactly a year ago, I wrote up a post for Six Colors about this topic.

You’re unlikely to win any awards, since the subject matter isn’t all that special, but it’s for you more than it is for other people. The act of composing a shot, adjusting your aperture settings, selecting your focus, etc. can clear your head.

The other week I grabbed my cameras and went to The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino (the Beverly Hills of the San Gabriel Valley).

I have a Nikon D80 that I bought used last year, and a used Sigma 17-70 F2.8-4 lens. It is absolutely not what I would take with me if I was worried about flexibility, dynamic range, low-light, lightness, space, etc.

It’s for jaunts. For outings. The thing is a brick that takes lovely 10.2 megapixel photos.

It doesn’t have to be a botanical garden though. There’s plenty of stuff in the most mundane of urban locations.

I just went on another little walk around on a nice, sunny, Sunday morning, with the ~lead weight~ D80 and it felt good. None of the photos are impressive or precious memories, but it felt good to do it.

Again, there’s nothing about these photos that’s exciting or novel. The old Nikon D80 CCD sensor isn’t magic. This subject matter isn’t special. These photos aren’t groundbreaking.

You should also go out with a hunk of junk and make your own achingly basic flower photos too.